Kuka johdattaa vihreille niityille? : Oppihistoriallinen ekskursio kuulumisen ja kuuliaisuuden poliittiseen teologiaan

Authors

• Mika Luoma-aho

Abstract

This article exposes the theologico-political symbolism that gave rise to modern ideas of citizen­ship and civil obedience. It begins from apostolic texts, which articulate a peculiarly organicist idea of Christian society. This image became politicised by the later Middle Ages in Catholic theology as well as in the secular political thought of the time. The political theology of the late-mediaeval Roman church was based on a symbolic interpretation of the Two Swords that were presented to Jesus in the gospel of Luke. Martin Luther challenged this symbolism with his the­ology of the Sword and the Word. According to Luther, Christians belonged to the kingdom of God but owed their obedience to secular authority. These are the terms in which the modern, secular, and territorial state were, and continue to be, imagined.